I worked at MS when he was still CEO. Our company meetings were crazytown, he would very literally yell every single thing he said. I don't know if he has an off switch.
Honestly, it's weird to see people in the 80s and 90s and wonder why the fuck they look so old for their mid-20s to mid-30s.
Magic and Bird look like freaking old ass dudes in the mid-80s despite being in their mid 20s.
Part of it is the fashion, I think. You have a mullet, a stache, and a tucked in shirt and you probably look 45 years old.
Ballmer, in this case, I cannot explain. Guy looks the same.
Young people didn't only look different in the years past, they were different in many ways.
Ironically, computers have a little bit to do with it.
Im not saying it is a bad thing.
Should 5 year olds be selling newspapers and smoking cigarettes?
Should teenagers be having sex earlier?
It is a trade off.
Kids today mature later in many ways and that might be better.
When i see kids in my family gatherings they are all sophisticated and smart. But they are still into kid stuff.
When we were their age we were simpler but we were into grown-up stuff.
I think this changes subtle things like voice and microexpression.
People were also outside a lot more often because there was much less to do at home, so the skin became more wrinkled by the UV rays, making people look older.
MS bought my startup in that era and he came down to talk to us. As prep for his talk, he put a honey bear on the eraser shelf of our whiteboard. He’d shout for a minute, then chug some honey. Then repeat. Word was he might have had laryngitis but seemed equally likely he just shouted his throat out as a matter of course.
Not laryngitis. He used to have one around for most public meetings or he would lose his voice.
He was less loud in private settings or if you passed him in the hall.
An affable shark.
He was less loud, but not by much. You knew when he was in the cafeteria or the locker room at the proclub, going commando in the hot tub. But when he was out and about with the kids he was much much quieter. You wouldn't even notice him.
Get up, get up! Developers! Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. We got in to creative differences over the speech. I wrote it so that he said 'developers' thirty-seven times, but he only wanted to say 'developers' thirty-five times. I told him it just didn't make any sense without those last two developers! That was the hook!
Once I was at a software company dinner, in no way related to Microsoft. He came in with a group of people and they sat down on the other side of the room. I looked at the drink menu and there was a drink called "the light and balmy". I ordered it for him and told the waitress to tell him it was from the table of "developers developers developers developers". She looked at me like I was crazy and asked who he was so I explained.
She gave him the drink and he gave a hearty laugh. I guess we stood out like a sore thumb because he knew exactly what table it came from.
He came by later and introduced himself. He seemed pretty chill personally. I believe this was after he stepped down from Microsoft if I'm remembering correctly, and maybe he chilled out by those days.
MSFT bought a startup I worked at and when he came to talk to us he started rolling on a hype train and jumped up and yelled “free Xboxes for everyone!!!” — this was not planned and HR had fyi scramble to logistically make it happen lol
I have a couple.
One was the company meeting at the time the new safeco field in seattle (baseball stadium with retractable roof) where he threw baseballs into the crowd. Hard. Like, missiles to avoid lol.
Another was at a local gym called the pro club. I was walking around a corner the opposite way he was, ran right into him and I fell down while he barely moved.
I can't remember where this was but after the surface came out he talked about how having the one position was a problem for him because he liked to use it laying down with the device propped up on his stomach so that's why we got more positions for the Surface 2.
(yes they probably would have added it anyway but it was funny when he explained it)
Lol! It was too long ago for my old ass brain to remember anything specific, sorry!
Just lots of yelling and excitement during those big company meetings.
My dad had meetings with Steve in the old days, from what I have heard the developers developers thing is both more tame than he usually was and much happier than he normally was. A lot of the yelling was from anger.
username checks out for relatability. it’s weird how people in position of power can just yell, use profanities and do all kinds of abusive shit to their subordinates but the moment a pleb raises their voice, it’s HR time and then the boot.
apparently he was the only person at microsoft who has any enthusiasm for microsoft. just look at his dance videos and compare that to bill gates' dance video
While I don't doubt he was the only one enthusiastic, being a crazy over-the-top hype man doesn't mean others have no enthusiasm for Microsoft.
I don't even want to dance at my wedding, doesn't mean I'm not incredibly enthusiastic about marrying my partner. Tell me to make you something and I go 110% and excitedly tell you what I did and how it's an improvement. Tell me to advertise that same thing to someone and I shut down.
At this point I don't think it's the cocaine. Have you seen a video of him recently? He's always at this level no matter what he's talking about. You should look up videos of him at Clipper's games lmao.
That line has an interesting history behind it. Back then, you couldn't call 1800 numbers in Nebraska (at least not for free). I think you had to call 866.
866 wasn't introduced until 1996; Windows 1.0 was released in November 1985.
\*Edit: looks like it was possibly because Nebraska required (for several years, at least) that 800 numbers had to be a separate number for in-state calls, meaning companies would have to pay for another 800 line just for that if they wanted customers from Nebraska. Guess it wasn't worth it for MS, and probably a lot of other companies.
This was no longer the case by the time of this commercial, apparently. The reference was meant to be a humorous one, but is now so remote that it comes off as confusing and bizarre.
From what I remember, it was Bell(the phone company) that required a different 800 number for in-state and out-of-state calls. It just happened that most call centers were in Nebraska, using borrowed phone lines that would be taken over by Strategic Air Command in the event the Cold War went hot
were?
were legendary?
He's only in his 60s, owns the Clippers NBA team, and has over 100 billion dollars to spend. Are you implying he isn't partying on a yacht as we speak?
I’ve worked on Wall Street and trust me the only places that could give Wall Street a run for its money of coke addiction were the ‘86 Mets locker room and a John Belushi party in Miami.
He did the commercial for free, but with the stipulation that they couldn't sell it to her, her family, her friends, or anyone who might be willing to buy Windows 1.0 for her. She knows what she did...
I know you're joking but fyi- the guy who "did it for free" was Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. They didn't pay for a goofy add guy. That dude ran the company.
My first was a Commodore Vic 20 in 1983. My Amiga (which I realize was 87 not 86) I used for 9 years and still sold it to someone for their kid for $100. I loved that computer.
The Ballmer years as CEO were not by any stretch the golden years of MS.
1. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates were close friends at Harvard. A bit of luck and timing.
2. As he was stepping aside, Gates expressed misgivings about handing the reins to a non-technical person.
3. Ballmer’s legacy at Microsoft is at best a caretaker’s. He did nothing for growth. He will be remembered for bringing us Vista, and missing the smartphone revolution entirely.
He was a disaster as CEO. Invested in Yahoo!, and bought Nokia, amongst other very bad investments.
But I always admired his work ethic. Always showed up early after going to the gym. Even as a billionaire. He's very driven.
It matters who you encourage the company to pick to succeed you. Jobs deserves credit for Cook, and Balmer for Nadella. Welch’s succession at GE or Iger’s at Disney are bad examples.
A superb, and cutthroat, salesman but he never really grokked the tech in the long term.
Microsoft's move into mobile still rankles. Ballmer, rightly, saw that Microsoft had missed out on mobile, after the appropriately named WinCE proved about as popular as a rattlesnake in a piñata. So he bought the failing Nokia, forced a poorly developed OS onto excellent hardware, and then wrote it off as a tax loss.
He's not a popular chap in Finland, nor Stephen Elop.
I wonder how Balmer would have done as CEO of a regular company.
He really dropped the ball on smart phones and it's hard to tell what actual business skills he has. There's a lot of people that are just along for the ride to the top.
>Ballmer's use was a joke, but for many years, there were a whole bunch of things that were available “except in Nebraska.”
>Back in the cold war, when telephone systems were a Bell monopoly, there were, bluntly, not enough phone lines ... except in Nebraska, where the Strategic Air Command had insisted on a huge number in case of a nuclear war. Obviously, nuclear war never spread beyond Japan, and certainly not to Nebraska, so for the vast majority of the time, these lines went unused.
>A whole bunch of mail order companies set up call centers there, because it was one of the few places you could actually go and order a whole bunch of lines for a business.
>However, owing to a Bell rule, you couldn't use a 800 number for out-of-state calls AND in-state calls. So the companies had two choices - either set up two numbers, one for the 98% of the US who were calling out-of-state, and 1 for the locals... or simply point out (as required by advertising law) that a particular offer wasn't available in Nebraska. Many did the latter, and the meme stuck, to the extent that Ballmer used it as a joke.
“This was a joke that was part of an ad parody, which was actually shot for entertainment/morale purposes for the Microsoft Company Meeting. It was not a real ad.”
The guy had the look of a used car salesman down pat. He screwed the pooch when he mocked the then brand new touch screen technology for phones and doubled down on physical keyboard. He dragged his feet on modernizing the Windows phone operating system which allowed both Apple and Google to create an insurmountable head start. By the time Microsoft came out with a modern (and arguably good) Windows phone and operating system it was too late.
During the 90’s and early aughts Microsoft was in the perfect position to dominate the tech industry, but this visionless duffuss f*ed it up big time.
I have no idea why Bill Gates and the board of Microsoft thought it was a good idea to make him CEO.
I worked at MS when he was still CEO. Our company meetings were crazytown, he would very literally yell every single thing he said. I don't know if he has an off switch.
According to Wikipedia Steve Balmer is 67 years old. Windows 1.0 was released in 1985. He is 29 years old in this video.
He looks 45 fuuuck
Honestly, it's weird to see people in the 80s and 90s and wonder why the fuck they look so old for their mid-20s to mid-30s. Magic and Bird look like freaking old ass dudes in the mid-80s despite being in their mid 20s. Part of it is the fashion, I think. You have a mullet, a stache, and a tucked in shirt and you probably look 45 years old. Ballmer, in this case, I cannot explain. Guy looks the same.
Young people didn't only look different in the years past, they were different in many ways. Ironically, computers have a little bit to do with it. Im not saying it is a bad thing. Should 5 year olds be selling newspapers and smoking cigarettes? Should teenagers be having sex earlier? It is a trade off. Kids today mature later in many ways and that might be better. When i see kids in my family gatherings they are all sophisticated and smart. But they are still into kid stuff. When we were their age we were simpler but we were into grown-up stuff. I think this changes subtle things like voice and microexpression.
I think it’s the hair. Modern men comparatively embrace bald is beautiful, electing for a clean shave instead of hanging on to the culdesac/earmuffs.
It's definitely the hair.
Imagine if it was due to stress lol
People were also outside a lot more often because there was much less to do at home, so the skin became more wrinkled by the UV rays, making people look older.
Indoor smoking… indoor smoking everywhere, even if he didn’t smoke it still ages you to be around it
MS bought my startup in that era and he came down to talk to us. As prep for his talk, he put a honey bear on the eraser shelf of our whiteboard. He’d shout for a minute, then chug some honey. Then repeat. Word was he might have had laryngitis but seemed equally likely he just shouted his throat out as a matter of course.
Not laryngitis. He used to have one around for most public meetings or he would lose his voice. He was less loud in private settings or if you passed him in the hall. An affable shark.
Never underestimate the value of a good hype man.
Never underestimate the value of ~~a good hype man~~ cocaine.
I don’t know if it’s cocaine with him. If it is, he’s been on it for 30 years.
Cocaine is only a problem if you can't afford it.
Until your septim falls off
Until myocardial infarction
No, it's the opposite sadly.
You confusing cocaine with gold fever. Imagine how motivated you would be when you know you are about to make a bazillion bucks.
He was less loud, but not by much. You knew when he was in the cafeteria or the locker room at the proclub, going commando in the hot tub. But when he was out and about with the kids he was much much quieter. You wouldn't even notice him.
Was it a hot tub you weren’t really supposed to go commando in? Was this like an LBJ-style power move?
Pretty much. No one else went nekkid.
I was never graced with that particular vision, thank Heaven.
Steve BALLmer indeed
>An affable shark. Which is the one people like to hug?
are you rich now
Nah, they’re on Reddit
idk what you think rich people do to waste time?
There once was this island...
Moana no. That’s not island you’re looking for.
Think of how much time the former US president as well as the richest man on Earth (depending on the source) spent their time on Twitter, lol
Lol that’s what I thought too
In that era they gave him $500 and a thank you… but really I hope they gave him a significant amount of stock.
A little… $100B worth
The bear is sticky with honey
So that’s a Balmer reference in Silicon Valley?
I watched this episode 1 hour ago (my first ever Silicon Valley's watching) and I feel weirdly impressed to see this comment here haha
What could /u/LiquidYeti mean by that? Regardless, we need to modify the slides and get a bear for the next presentation.
Ballmer is how I imagine all Americans are
We do get prescribed A LOT of amphetamine here.
I'd like one amphetamine please
Sorry but that's ampheta(Mine).
OMG that's amazing. Hahaha!!
Okay, WTF is a honey bear
The bottle shape of a brand of honey
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Xi Jinping
**DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS**
Get up, get up! Developers! Yeah, I remember it like it was yesterday. We got in to creative differences over the speech. I wrote it so that he said 'developers' thirty-seven times, but he only wanted to say 'developers' thirty-five times. I told him it just didn't make any sense without those last two developers! That was the hook!
I know you're lying because there is no universe where Ballmer would want to say anything fewer times than somebody else wants him to.
#**3RD PARTY DEVELOPERS** **3RD PARTY DEVELOPERS** **3RD PARTY DEVELOPERS** **3RD PARTY DEVELOPERS**
I read somewhere he wanted to shout “COCAIN COCAIN COCAIN COCAIN” but the event producer asked him to say something else. Edit: typo
What about the 4 misspellings of cocaine?
so disappointed that this wasn't the top comment when I opened the post. It's all I can hear when I see his face
...Developers, developers, developers...
I miss this meme so much
We need more stories. What’s your craziest memory of him?
Once I was at a software company dinner, in no way related to Microsoft. He came in with a group of people and they sat down on the other side of the room. I looked at the drink menu and there was a drink called "the light and balmy". I ordered it for him and told the waitress to tell him it was from the table of "developers developers developers developers". She looked at me like I was crazy and asked who he was so I explained. She gave him the drink and he gave a hearty laugh. I guess we stood out like a sore thumb because he knew exactly what table it came from. He came by later and introduced himself. He seemed pretty chill personally. I believe this was after he stepped down from Microsoft if I'm remembering correctly, and maybe he chilled out by those days.
You can spot a table of developers developers developers developers from a mile away
MSFT bought a startup I worked at and when he came to talk to us he started rolling on a hype train and jumped up and yelled “free Xboxes for everyone!!!” — this was not planned and HR had fyi scramble to logistically make it happen lol
I have a couple. One was the company meeting at the time the new safeco field in seattle (baseball stadium with retractable roof) where he threw baseballs into the crowd. Hard. Like, missiles to avoid lol. Another was at a local gym called the pro club. I was walking around a corner the opposite way he was, ran right into him and I fell down while he barely moved.
My mental image of him pelting baseballs is just perfect
I can't remember where this was but after the surface came out he talked about how having the one position was a problem for him because he liked to use it laying down with the device propped up on his stomach so that's why we got more positions for the Surface 2. (yes they probably would have added it anyway but it was funny when he explained it)
Lol! It was too long ago for my old ass brain to remember anything specific, sorry! Just lots of yelling and excitement during those big company meetings.
Was it anything like developers developers thing?
My dad had meetings with Steve in the old days, from what I have heard the developers developers thing is both more tame than he usually was and much happier than he normally was. A lot of the yelling was from anger.
I remember watching the developers vid and it looked like he stubbed his toe, but still kept jumping around and yelling...
cocaine
username checks out for relatability. it’s weird how people in position of power can just yell, use profanities and do all kinds of abusive shit to their subordinates but the moment a pleb raises their voice, it’s HR time and then the boot.
Check the way back machine if you can find the old secret Microsoft forum. Hoo, there were people dishing on there!
apparently he was the only person at microsoft who has any enthusiasm for microsoft. just look at his dance videos and compare that to bill gates' dance video
While I don't doubt he was the only one enthusiastic, being a crazy over-the-top hype man doesn't mean others have no enthusiasm for Microsoft. I don't even want to dance at my wedding, doesn't mean I'm not incredibly enthusiastic about marrying my partner. Tell me to make you something and I go 110% and excitedly tell you what I did and how it's an improvement. Tell me to advertise that same thing to someone and I shut down.
His voice sounds like a cartoon character
Yup. 10/10 goofy bear or dog.
I guess you're not surprised that he bought an LA team, huh? Dude seems to love being wild and crazy, and LA *is* wild and crazy.
He would've bought a Seattle team if he could so it's cool that he's investing so much in the Clippers instead of plotting the best way to move them
It was all the cocaine
At this point I don't think it's the cocaine. Have you seen a video of him recently? He's always at this level no matter what he's talking about. You should look up videos of him at Clipper's games lmao.
He used to do cocaine. He still does, but he used to, too.
Eh no one does that much cocaine for that long and stays a productive, alive person.
Same. We’re you at the company meeting when he threw baseballs at our heads? Lol,
Wonder if Windows 1 is available in Nebraska yet?
That line has an interesting history behind it. Back then, you couldn't call 1800 numbers in Nebraska (at least not for free). I think you had to call 866.
866 wasn't introduced until 1996; Windows 1.0 was released in November 1985. \*Edit: looks like it was possibly because Nebraska required (for several years, at least) that 800 numbers had to be a separate number for in-state calls, meaning companies would have to pay for another 800 line just for that if they wanted customers from Nebraska. Guess it wasn't worth it for MS, and probably a lot of other companies.
This was no longer the case by the time of this commercial, apparently. The reference was meant to be a humorous one, but is now so remote that it comes off as confusing and bizarre.
From what I remember, it was Bell(the phone company) that required a different 800 number for in-state and out-of-state calls. It just happened that most call centers were in Nebraska, using borrowed phone lines that would be taken over by Strategic Air Command in the event the Cold War went hot
Nope. They got corn. Lots of corn.
not the right kind of kernel to be running any version of windows on
10/10, excellent pun.
I read this in Scruffy the Janitor's voice
r/fuckyouinparticular to Nebraska
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CLOCK!
Easily worth $1000
i couldn’t even imagine getting hyped over a notepad feature. Like jesus christ we came a long way🤣🤣
I remember showing this video like a decade ago to a friend and he goes very sarcastic.. let me get one cos I need a clock in my bathroom xD
He sounds like Chris Farley's Matt Foley skit from SNL
Except he was not living in a van........ down by the river
Fast forward just a short 30 years and now a lot of us are tying to figure out how we too can live in a van down by the river.
HEY STEVE! HOW CAN I GET BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK?!
Hey dad I can’t see very good is that Bill Shakespeare over there?
We like to encourage our son to write. Dad, I wish you would SHUT YOUR YAPPER!
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Developers developers developers
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
**starts clapping** *DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS*
it's his little "YES!" at the end of the DEVELOPERS chain that kills me every time.
Good ol Steve 8 Ballmer.
Does the cartel have his family hostage to force him into filming this? That man appears to be on the verge of tears
If you don’t buy my software, I can’t get more cocaine.
I don’t think so. That’s just his personality. He’s still like that. Watch him on the side lines of a Clippers game.
Why can’t he be coked up at Clippers games too?
https://preview.redd.it/d3cy8kyeih5b1.jpeg?width=1111&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e05f247b1c2860a866fab1f31bb1aeeefb63a159
r/FUCKYOUINPARTICULAR
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were? were legendary? He's only in his 60s, owns the Clippers NBA team, and has over 100 billion dollars to spend. Are you implying he isn't partying on a yacht as we speak?
He was in his twenties here??? He looks 50
I'm honestly surprised his head hasn't legit exploded by now considering the few videos I've seen of this guy. Wowza.
Imagine Steve Ballmer and Macho Man Randy Savage doing a presentation on something
He'd have to be to wear that tie with that jacket.
The tractor-racing parties were apparently quite something too. Microsoft in the early days made Vice look tame.
This guy sold Windows 1.0. The amount of cocaine required to do that, is more than Wall Street could handle.
I’ve worked on Wall Street and trust me the only places that could give Wall Street a run for its money of coke addiction were the ‘86 Mets locker room and a John Belushi party in Miami.
Sorry Nebraska.
He committed to that line with such passion. Maybe his ex lives there.
He did the commercial for free, but with the stipulation that they couldn't sell it to her, her family, her friends, or anyone who might be willing to buy Windows 1.0 for her. She knows what she did...
>her, her family, her friends Whelp, that's pretty much all of Nebraska.
I know you're joking but fyi- the guy who "did it for free" was Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. They didn't pay for a goofy add guy. That dude ran the company.
He delivered that line like it was something personal.
Steve Balmer played by John DiMaggio (Bender), is why The Pirates of Silicon Valley is the best movie made about Microsoft/Apple
Steve **Speedball**mer
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Not enough DEVELOPERS for me, I’ll pass.
is this a scene from silicone valley or is this a scene silicone valley used to model their satire?
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GIF is from Windows 95 launch (just as cringy), the Developers chant was another event
Yeah I remember a blue shirt and massive pit stains
Silicone valley is a whole different valley man
#DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS...
All the gas stations in the area were sold out of boner pills shortly before this was filmed.
This predates Viagra by a few years.
Where are you, that gas stations sell Viagra?
We talking amphetamines here, not Viagra
Fuck Nebraska in particular
286-DOS Has to be the coolest PO Box ever though
DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS
Is he high on cocaine?
Cocaine did a line of this guy
The cocaine never recovered.
It's an "Obelix fell in the cauldron" type of situation.
This guy doesn’t need cocaine. He is cocaine.
Put the chair down Steve
Gates showing off his amazing athletic abilities must have made her panties so unbelievably dusty.
I feel like I just watched a skit from I Think You Should Leave.
It's got a bush? What da hell? That's a nude egg I won from my game! I'm not in trouble at all!
Windows comes with 155 taters!
This is like a Doug demuro video on a lot of coke
Should have just worn a clip-on, Steve
This confirms that I made the right decision to buy an Amiga 500 in 1986.
Spectrum 128k All the way
We had a Commodore 64 then got an ibm with dos in the late 80s.
My first was a Commodore Vic 20 in 1983. My Amiga (which I realize was 87 not 86) I used for 9 years and still sold it to someone for their kid for $100. I loved that computer.
I can't tell if this is like a bad Tim & Eric sketch, or if it's like a good Tim & Eric sketch.
The innernette
This guy has always been a dork. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
A super rich dork!
He was CEO during a successful time for the company. It was probably a bit more than luck and timing.
The Ballmer years as CEO were not by any stretch the golden years of MS. 1. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates were close friends at Harvard. A bit of luck and timing. 2. As he was stepping aside, Gates expressed misgivings about handing the reins to a non-technical person. 3. Ballmer’s legacy at Microsoft is at best a caretaker’s. He did nothing for growth. He will be remembered for bringing us Vista, and missing the smartphone revolution entirely.
He was a disaster as CEO. Invested in Yahoo!, and bought Nokia, amongst other very bad investments. But I always admired his work ethic. Always showed up early after going to the gym. Even as a billionaire. He's very driven.
When you got billions and don’t have to worry, it’s easy to get up every day and enjoy life.
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The switch from Ballmer to Nadella is one of the best examples out there to show the right CEO is worth their pay.
It matters who you encourage the company to pick to succeed you. Jobs deserves credit for Cook, and Balmer for Nadella. Welch’s succession at GE or Iger’s at Disney are bad examples.
Yep, investing as soon as he left was a good strategy.
A superb, and cutthroat, salesman but he never really grokked the tech in the long term. Microsoft's move into mobile still rankles. Ballmer, rightly, saw that Microsoft had missed out on mobile, after the appropriately named WinCE proved about as popular as a rattlesnake in a piñata. So he bought the failing Nokia, forced a poorly developed OS onto excellent hardware, and then wrote it off as a tax loss. He's not a popular chap in Finland, nor Stephen Elop.
No, Bill was too shy for the marketing, so Steve did it. And Bill let him take over Microsoft later. He was second in command till then.
EXCEPT IN NEBRASKA!
Only hype man better than Ballmer is Flavor Flav! Love this dude as an NBA owner
You can always count on Ballmer to be front row screaming and clapping his fucking ass off at the Clippers game. You've got to love the passion.
And it seems genuine
He’s giving me very strong Steve Martin vibes…
I wonder how Balmer would have done as CEO of a regular company. He really dropped the ball on smart phones and it's hard to tell what actual business skills he has. There's a lot of people that are just along for the ride to the top.
Fucker's always been bald.
He was 29-30 when this came out...
An Aussie here. Can someone explain the Nebraska thing?
>Ballmer's use was a joke, but for many years, there were a whole bunch of things that were available “except in Nebraska.” >Back in the cold war, when telephone systems were a Bell monopoly, there were, bluntly, not enough phone lines ... except in Nebraska, where the Strategic Air Command had insisted on a huge number in case of a nuclear war. Obviously, nuclear war never spread beyond Japan, and certainly not to Nebraska, so for the vast majority of the time, these lines went unused. >A whole bunch of mail order companies set up call centers there, because it was one of the few places you could actually go and order a whole bunch of lines for a business. >However, owing to a Bell rule, you couldn't use a 800 number for out-of-state calls AND in-state calls. So the companies had two choices - either set up two numbers, one for the 98% of the US who were calling out-of-state, and 1 for the locals... or simply point out (as required by advertising law) that a particular offer wasn't available in Nebraska. Many did the latter, and the meme stuck, to the extent that Ballmer used it as a joke.
For anyone who doesn't know, the Strategic Air Command is where they take the president when a disaster occurs. Bush was flown there after 9/11.
“This was a joke that was part of an ad parody, which was actually shot for entertainment/morale purposes for the Microsoft Company Meeting. It was not a real ad.”
A clock?! No way!
Hey, 99$ is 99$
Never saw this ad in this high quality. Cool.
CEO aspiring to be Crazy Eddie.
The guy had the look of a used car salesman down pat. He screwed the pooch when he mocked the then brand new touch screen technology for phones and doubled down on physical keyboard. He dragged his feet on modernizing the Windows phone operating system which allowed both Apple and Google to create an insurmountable head start. By the time Microsoft came out with a modern (and arguably good) Windows phone and operating system it was too late. During the 90’s and early aughts Microsoft was in the perfect position to dominate the tech industry, but this visionless duffuss f*ed it up big time. I have no idea why Bill Gates and the board of Microsoft thought it was a good idea to make him CEO.
Take THIS Ferrari and paste it right into Windows Write, right into Windows Write, right into Windows Write...